Eleven ???? Tuesday

Spending time with my four year-old grandson Gabriel means that I become an instant authority on the way the world works – just for the day. “What do cars drink? Why can’t the cat eat my soft taco if he likes it? What is grandpa doing right now?” I am required to have some snappy answers ready for him – or a very convincing “I don’t know” that staunches the flow of further inquiry on a topic.

And then I wondered why kids get to ask all the cool questions. Here are a few of mine:

Why do cars like to drink four dollar-a-gallon gas?

Why does this cat like tacos, pizza and cream puffs?

When will it really, truly be spring (for a full week) in Chicago?

Will I kill the two tomato plants Gabriel and I planted today? (I have never harvested a tomato yet from any garden I’ve ever planted. Ever.)

Has American Idol jumped the shark this year?

Besides pastoring, what else can you use a Masters of Divinity degree for?

Will Hillary Clinton try for the Democratic nomination in a future election year she doesn’t get the position this time?

And one very serious one:

How do you pray for an entire country (like Myanmar) or a region (like the Sichuan province in China)?

These are fun questions. The tomato one grabbed my attention.Plant cherry tomatoes; because they are so small when ripe, they ripen fastest. Give tomatoes scads of sun, minimum 6 hours, 8 or more is best, water especially the first month, and I HOPE you will enjoy tomatoes this summer. I write about gardening and other stuff at terragarden.blogspot.com

Michelle Van Loon

Mike – When my kids were teens, I asked myself the same question.

Terra (pretty name!) – I did plant cherry tomatoes with my grandson. I have murdered so many tomato plants over the years…